# Presidency of Gustavo Petro

* This article is part of a series about Gustavo Petro
Political career
President (2022–present) Senator (2006–2010), (2018-2022) Mayor of Bogotá (2012-2014; 2014-2015)
34th President of Colombia
Presidency
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Trips
First 100 days
Total Peace
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2010 (campaign)
2018 (campaign)
Historic Pact
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Verónica Alcocer
Nicolás Petro
Andrea Petro
Andrés Petro
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Gustavo Petro's term as the 34th president of Colombia began with his inauguration on 7 August 2022. Petro who previously served as mayor of Bogotá, took office after his victory in the 2022 presidential election over the self-proclaimed "anti-corruption leader" Rodolfo Hernández. Petro took office amid the political shadow of his predecessor, an economic crisis and increased political polarization.
At the time of his election, Petro was a 62-year-old member of Congress; his victory has been attributed to voter anger at the political class over years of corruption in politics, economic recession, the COVID-19 health crisis and a rise in violent crime. According to the political scientist Paca Zuleta, "the discontent over the economic crisis, it seems to me, was channeled together with a speech about combating poverty and not responding in the way that his detractors expected". Colombia's economy was recovering from the crisis, with an unemployment rate of 28 percent at the time of the elections, twice as high as five years earlier. The crisis was caused, among other factors, by the weakness of the prices of raw materials; the events revealed underlying weaknesses in the economy, including poor infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, an inefficient tax system, and corruption.

## 2022 election

Petro won the runoff with 50.42% of the vote to Hernández's 47.35%. Petro dominated in regions on Colombia's Caribbean and Pacific coasts, and received over 81% of the vote in the coastal department of Chocó. Due to an increased turnout among his supporters, Petro received nearly 2.7 million more votes in the second round than the first. The result was noted for a continuing trend of left-wing victories in Latin America, which has been dubbed as a "new pink tide".

## Administration and cabinet

Petro was inaugurated alongside Francia Márquez, the second woman, first Afro-Colombian vice president.
On 8 August 2022, after taking office as President of Colombia, Petro announced who would be the ministers at the beginning of his government, and announced José Antonio Ocampo as the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, formerly the minister with same portfolio in the government of Ernesto Samper.
In April 2023, Petro asked for the resignation of his whole ministerial cabinet to proceed with its restructuring. By June 2023 he dismissed his Chief of Staff and the ambassador to Venezuela as a response to a scandal regarding illegal wiretapping and possible irregular financing.

## Domestic policy
### Taxes

After the failure of the tax reform of the Duque administration, the Petro government took on the task of creating one where the population with the least economic accessibility would be the least affected, the government has emphasized the importance of reducing taxes for the population with less income, and a greater number of taxes for the population with higher income.

### Energy

On 8 September, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Irene Veléz, had what she called a meeting to listen to the companies that provide the service, the unions, the mayors and other actors with the aim of establishing a path towards stabilizing the main anguish of Caribbean citizenship.
The minister insisted that there is another Colombia that has different and no less worrying challenges: "It is about the more than 500 thousand families that still do not have access to energy at the national level"
On 28 October, during his visit to the municipality of Bosconia, César Petro declared this measure a state of National Emergency to allocate the economic resources that remain from this year's budget to face emergencies immediately, according to Petro.
"Cesar lives a paradox that focuses on the climate crisis, I said it in my electoral campaign, here you suffer but this region also produces the chemicals that generate this pollution: coal".

### Environment and climate

On 7 November 2022, Petro traveled to Egypt with a delegation of 201 people to discuss and rethink solutions for climate change, one of his main banners was saving the Amazon and protecting water, Petro fired at everyone, including technocrats, in a veiled reference to his predecessor, Iván Duque, who was also at the climate summit promoting one of his books. From the summit, he wanted a common fund with other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Venezuela or the United States to protect the Amazon. Colombia, he announced, will allocate 140 million dollars a year for the next 20 years.
For Andrés Santiago Arroyave, an expert on environmental issues, what the president is asking for, beyond what is said in the decalogue, is that the necessary changes be accelerated to achieve the goals of reducing between 30% and 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality (countries generating the amount of greenhouse gases they can offset) by 2050.
However, he says that something that can generate resistance is that Petro speaks in terms of changes that must take place now, and is taking away the strength of the transition. "From an environmental perspective, the president's timing is correct; There is no longer a deadline to make less immediate changes. But if you look at it in the context of an economic crisis, recession and war, it's different", says Arroyave.
He thinks that it is very difficult for Colombia to give up the generation of fossil fuels in the short term, it is very complex because it is the main economic support of the country. "As tight as the schedule is to stop the advance of climate change, making an abrupt change in this area is something that the economy does not allow. What we can gain, from Colombia, with the insistence on the urgency of the Petro changes is that Ecopetrol increase efforts for the transition, which is something in which this country has a lot of potential. There is a lot of room to grow in wind power and solar power production," he says.
On 20 January 2023, he traveled to Davos, Switzerland to participate in the World Economic Forum, where at the end of his speech at the Petro he spoke about the intentions of the national government to lead an energy transition that allows the development of other industries, like tourism. In fact, during his presidential campaign he has insisted on the need for this sector to have significant economic empowerment, but for this a pacification plan is needed in the country.
From there arose the proposal to implement Total Peace, now understood as a State policy. The president stated that one of the steps to take is to invest in the tourism sector, "we are convinced that, with a strong investment in tourism, given the beauty of the country, and the capacity and potential that the country has in generating clean energy, could perfectly, in a short term, in a transition, fill the gaps that the fossil economy can leave", said the Head of State when closing his speech at the Davos Forum.

### Biodiversity

As Colombia is a biodiversity hotspot, the administration planned to "carry out fundamental transformations to face the emergency caused by climate change and the loss of biodiversity". In a speech to the UN, Petro connected the "irrational war on drugs" to the destruction of the rainforest ecosystems, as the eradication of the coca plant through glyphosate or fire causes harm to many other nearby plants and poisons the water in the former case. On 10 January 2023, the National Police of Colombia reduced their target coca eradication goal by 60% for 2023.
In March 2023, Colombia and Bolivia announced a joint petition to remove the coca plant, but not cocaine, from the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a list of narcotic substances deemed illegal, at the 66th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna. In their contribution to the debate Laura Gil Savastano referred to the inclusion of the coca plant in the convention as a historic mistake.

### Education

On 17 November 2022 during an intervention in Pinillos, Bolívar Petro announced changes in the education sector focusing on secondary school, Petro assured that the country's education system has to make a transition to the model that is managed on the European continent.
The president concluded the announcement by saying that the ideal would be for this model to be implemented in the Los Pinillos school, "to ensure that the best public education in Colombia can be established in the region that had one of the best educations in the times of the origin of the Republic of Colombia".

### Defense

On 17 December, President Gustavo Petro commented to various media outlets that the National Government is contemplating the idea of renewing the fleet of combat aircraft of the Colombian Air Force. According to the president, the announcement corresponds to the renewal of the Kfir aircraft fleet, of Israeli origin and that by next year they would be obsolete, because they have been in operation for more than 30 years, the president quoted in verbatim words. I believe that the wives of the current pilots are going to thank me very much, because in reality it was already dangerous to climb on those devices", said Gustavo Petro in the middle of the promotion ceremony for officers of the Military Forces.
Later the Minister of Defense argued in exact words "it is a reality that these planes must be bought and the French planes are the leading proposal. The Dassault Rafale could arrive in 2025 and the old ones would stop leaving service next year, said Velásquez and stated that this decision had been considered for 12 years.

### Total peace

Already during his campaign for president, Gustavo Petro introduced his ideas for a Total Peace in Colombia, which aims for an all encompassing and lasting peace in Colombia, using a two-pronged strategy of reducing social inequality and expanding upon the policy of peacemeal negotiations with armed groups of his predecessors. This set of policies included a renewal of peace talks with the remaining left- and right-wing armed groups to the Colombian conflict, particularly the ELN, as well as plea-bargaining benefits to paramilitary successor groups, like the AGC and FARC dissidents. On 4 November 2022, Petro signed into law a total peace bill, codifying negotiation conditions with armed groups. Peace talks with the ELN were finally resumed at the end of November 2022, with the first set of meetings taking place in Venezuela, after the restoration of diplomatic contacts between the two countries. In addition to these attempts at peace with armed groups, exploratory talks with violent gangs, like the Shottas and Espartanos were held with government officials that could demobilise up to 2000 gang members. The preliminary truce had already accomplished to prevent any gang-related homicides in Buenaventura in over 100 days. On 1 January 2023, the government obtained a ceasefire agreement with the 5 largest armed groups still operating in Colombia, supposed to be lasting for 6 months. The ELN for its part stated on 3 January 2023 that a mutual ceasefire is only a proposal that needs to be discussed further at an upcoming meeting at the end of January in Mexico, leading to a suspension of the ceasefire from Colombian authorities until such an agreement is reached. In the beginning of March 2023, the government announced that talks with the FARC splinter groups were also in its incipient stages, after 19 arrest warrants against the guerrilla were revoked to negotiate a peace deal and the FARC dissidents released 11 captives via mediation of the Catholic Church and the International Committee of the Red Cross. On 2 May, the Colombian government and the ELN met for a third round of talks in Havana, where both sides indicated their openness to a thorough ceasefire agreement, after a clash between the army and the ELN in late March left nine Colombian soldiers dead, threatening to derail the peace process. At the beginning of June a major breakthrough in the negotiations between the government and the ELN occurred, leading to a six-month long ceasefire between the two parties, starting from 3 August 2023. The signing ceremony took place on 9 June in Havana, in the presence of Gustavo Petro, the ELN commander Antonio García and the Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel. Concomitantly on 2 June, several urban gang leaders, who are currently imprisoned in high-security prisons, announced their readiness to further dialogue with the government negotiation team. A currently proposed law outlines a peace formula for these armed gangs, which provides reparations to victims in exchange for reduced prison sentences for those confessing to crimes and enables gangs to retain 6%, with a cap at $2.7m, of their ill-gotten gains.
Aside from these negotiations, the government wants to embark on multiple paths reducing the large social inequality in the country, among them a land redistribution plan and investments in rural infrastructure, benefitting poor rural communities. Further the government signalled its intent in investing in education for peace, tolerance and reconciliation.

### National Development Plan

On 6 February 2023, Petro announced the details of his four-year development law package, which would invest $247 billion to reduce the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty, redistribute surpluses from fossile energy sources to the renewable energy transition, and institute a land reform to increase the agricultural output, covering nearly 3 million hectares of land to be allotted to poor farmers, if passed.

### Health

One of his main flags, during his 2022 political campaign, was the importance of restructuring the health sector, one of the areas that affects the most Colombians, on 23 February 2023, the Minister of Health, Carolina Corcho, in which established a series of changes and the role of the EPS as well as the rest of the companies that facilitate Health.
Weeks later, the presidents of the parties, Conservative, Liberal and U, Petro's government parties, carried out analyzes of the reform as well as their contributions.
At the end of May the reform passed the lower chamber with the governing majority and some opposition lawmakers voting in favour. Its passage was opposed by many industry lobbying groups, like the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI) and some former Ministers of Health.
In January 2023, on the occaion of the 7th CELAC summit, the foundation of a regional medicine agency, termed Agencia Reguladora de Medicamentos y Dispositivos Médicos de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (AMLAC), was announced to the public. The agency was eventually founded on 27 April 2023, by delegates of Colombia, Mexico and Cuba with 10 other states signalling their intent to join the agency later on. The agency is supposed increase the self-suffiency of the participating states, streamline trade with medicinal products among the countries and harmonise regulations.

### Labor

On 17 March 2023, the administration of Gustavo Petro filed, the labor reform, which would bring higher night and Sunday surcharges for workers, while it will seek that they be linked through indefinite-term contracts and that companies will be more hard to fire
“The centrality of the reform is job stability. It will guarantee the rights of the nearly 22 million employed persons. We have a text that will allow us to move towards a society that recognizes the importance of labor rights", assured the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez.
The bill, which will now have to go through Congress, proposes that Colombians work 42 hours a week (today there are 48 and in July it would go to 47) that can be distributed, by mutual agreement, between employer and worker, in 5 or 6 days a week.
In addition, the night shift would not start at 9 at night, but at 6 in the afternoon, and work on Sundays or holidays would now be paid with a surcharge of 100 percent (today it is 75 percent).

### Cannabis legalization

Mirroring the trend towards legalisation of the cannabis plant in other countries, legislation concerning a legalised and regulated market for cannabis products passed a first hurdle in the Senate in early June 2023 after passing the Chamber of Representatives in early May. Senator María José Pizarro cited reduced crime, health benefits to consumers and approximately $400m in tax revenue as major motivations for the new law. The legislation is opposed by the conservative parties Democratic Center and Conservative Party, who specified health risks and moral reasons for their opposition.

## Foreign policy
### United Nations

On 20 September, Petro addressed himself in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Contrary to his two predecessors, Iván Duque and Juan Manuel Santos, the speech was mainly in Spanish. It is expected that around 9:30 am, the Colombian president will begin his speech at the lectern of the UN headquarters, Petro raised the need to create a large common fund to save the Amazon. According to Petro, around US$1,000 million must be contributed worldwide for 20 years to work for the recovery of one of the largest forests in the world. This fund would be managed, according to the Colombian president, through the United Nations, which maintained his position on the war on drugs.
In his speech he said that:
   “to destroy the coca plant they throw poisons, glyphosate en masse that runs through the waters, they arrest their growers and imprison them. For destroying or possessing the coca leaf, a million Latin Americans are murdered and two million Afro-Americans are imprisoned in North America. Destroy the plant that kills, they cry from the north, but the plant is just one more plant among the millions that perish when they unleash fire on the jungle.”
pointed to the rich countries and the functioning of contemporary society to be destroying the jungle with their addictions to drugs and consumption. "Which is more poisonous to humanity, cocaine, coal or oil?" she asked.
Petro concluded his intervention by asking Ukraine and Russia to make peace. "Only in peace can we save life in this land of ours. There is no total peace, without social, economic and environmental justice. We are at war, too, with the planet. Without peace with the planet, there will be no peace among nations. Without social justice, there is no social peace," he stated.

### Americas
#### United States

On 20 April 2023, he met with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, at the White House, where topics such as decarbonization, the construction of a green economy in America, and electrical transmission at the continental level were discussed. payment of foreign debt through actions against climate change.
Among the conclusions, the United States promised an investment of US$500 million for the Amazon Fund, as part of the efforts of the two nations to face climate change. With this contribution, the United States would be one of the largest donors to this international conservation program, which was established during the previous term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation.
Later he had a meeting with the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, where he reiterated the need for United States support for the agrarian reform proposed by the administration.

#### Venezuela

As of 2019, before assuming the presidency, Petro had an ambiguous position on Venezuela under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. While he has not denounced its human rights violations or described Maduro as a dictator, unlike Iván Duque, he also has not expressed unrestricted support, unlike Evo Morales.
Petro had met Chávez in 1994, on Seventh Street in Bogotá, after inviting the latter to come to Colombia to learn more about the new Political Constitution of 1991. At the Bridge of Boyacá, both "swore an oath of Bolivarian integration for Latin America". After Chávez's death in 2013, Petro affirmed that he was a "great Latin American leader", saying: "You lived in Chávez's times and maybe you thought he was a clown. You were fooled. You lived in the times of a great Latin American leader". He also expressed: "Even if many do not like him, Hugo Chávez will be a man who will be remembered by the history of Latin America, his critics will be forgotten", "a friend and a hope is gone".
In 2016, Petro ironized about the crisis in Venezuela, in a year when shortages and malnutrition were rampant, by posting a photo of a supermarket with full shelves on Twitter and saying, "I went into a supermarket in Caracas and look what I found. Did RCN fool me?". In a 2018 interview in Al Punto, Mexican journalist Jorge Ramos asked Petro if he considered Chávez as a political leader, to which Petro answered that he believed that "he was popularly elected", but that authoritarianism in Venezuela under Maduro was putting an end to all freedoms.
In 2019, Petro criticized the idea of an American military intervention against Maduro's regime, stating that "only Venezuelans should solve Venezuela's problems", that "it's not a coup d'état backed by foreigners that will bring democracy to Venezuela", and that "what is happening in Venezuela is a frontal struggle for the control of oil". In 2020, Petro claimed that if Colombia reestablished diplomatic relations, cut off by Maduro, and sold food to Venezuela, Venezuelan immigration would cease.
In response to Maduro's attack of him and president of Chile Gabriel Boric as well as president of Peru Pedro Castillo, describing them as a "cowardly left wing" attacking the Bolivarian Revolution in February 2022, Petro responded on social media saying "I suggest Maduro to stop his insults. Cowards are those who do not embrace democracy", adding, "Get Venezuela out of oil, take it to the deepest democracy, if you must step aside, do it".
Following the results of the second round of the 2022 presidential elections in Colombia, Maduro congratulated Petro on his victory, saying "I congratulate Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez, for the historic victory in the presidential elections in Colombia. The will of the Colombian people was heard, who came out to defend the path of democracy and peace. New times are on the horizon for this brother country".
On 26 August 2022, Petro asks his ambassador in Venezuela to establish ties with the neighboring country. The call was made during the act of possession.
   "Ambassador, go and see how Colombia's house is, over there," Petro said. "There are 16 consulates that have to be filled, we have talked about people with diplomatic careers, all of them, the 16. We have to repair the damage to the houses and the damage to the hearts. The first one. So that no one ever thinks of entering Venezuela and Colombia there has to be a conflict, a war or something like that"
"Today I take office before President Petro Gustavo as Colombian ambassador to Venezuela. We will work to normalize relations between two sister countries. Trade, border security and fraternal ties with our neighbor will be a priority," he commented on Twitter. Benedetti has assured that one of his first objectives as ambassador in Venezuela will be to promote commercial exchange between neighboring nations, which will especially benefit the inhabitants of the border.
In an August 2022 interview with the Colombian magazine Semana, Petro stated that he would only recognize Nicolás Maduro as Venezuelan president, and that the partially recognized interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, was a "non-existent" president, and that Guaidó had no control over the country. Guaidó reproached the lack of recognition of his interim government, and responded in a press conference: "I would have expected that his first decision would not have been to approach one who today shelters world terrorism in Venezuela".
On 28 September 2022, Colombia's ambassador to the Organization of American States, Luis Ernesto Vargas, declared that he would condemn human rights violations in Nicaragua when necessary, but that he would prioritize the integration of the countries in the region.
In October 2022, Petro claimed that the number of migrants returning to Venezuela at that time outnumbered those leaving the country, arguing that there were more Colombian migrants entering Venezuela than Venezuelans entering Colombia.
On 1 November 2022 the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, arrived in Caracas on an official visit to Venezuela, where he met with Nicolás Maduro. Petro arrived at the Maiquetía airport, where he was received by the Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. He immediately went to Caracas and, upon arriving at the Miraflores Palace, seat of the Presidency, President Maduro was waiting for him at the main door. At the presidential headquarters, the Parada Group formed a street of honor to welcome the Colombian President. Next, the presidents reviewed the detachment and the Orchestra of the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela presented a cultural sample. The presidents will have a private meeting and later, in the Ayacucho room of the Miraflores Palace, a meeting of the delegations will be held, in which issues such as the opening of the border, trade, Latin American democracy and the entry of Venezuela will be addressed. to the Inter-American Human Rights System. The Colombian Head of State traveled accompanied by the Chief of Staff, Laura Sarabia, the Minister of Foreign Relations, Álvaro Leyva the Ambassador of Colombia in Venezuela, Armando Benedetti the Ambassador of Venezuela in Colombia, Félix Plasencia, and the Ambassador of Colombia to the Organization of American States, Luis Ernesto Vargas.
In February 2023, Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro signed a bilateral trade agreement at the Tienditas International Bridge. The agreement concerns topics like tariffs as well as investment and trade conditions.
Petro announced that Colombia would host an international conference to discuss the crisis in Venezuela in 2023. On the eve of the conference, Guaidó was expelled from Colombia after entering the country. After initially considering deporting him back to Venezuela, Guaidó eventually traveled to the United States. The conference took place in April with 20 countries in attendance but without that of any Venezuelan representation. It concluded with very few results, although it came to three conclusions: the need for an electoral schedule to be established in Venezuela, that the agreements between chavismo and the opposition be accompanied by the lifting of sanctions, and that the resumption of the dialogue process in Mexico go in parallel with the creation of a fund for social investment in the country, as agreed in November 2023.

#### Nicaragua

In April 2022, the ICJ issued a ruling that declared in its title that Colombia violated the sovereign rights of Nicaragua. The ruling demanded that Colombia "immediately cease" fishing activities in Nicaraguan territory, something that the government of Daniel Ortega celebrated.
Nicaragua assures that from its coasts there is an uninterrupted natural prolongation of the continent that extends beyond its 200 nautical miles. It argues that this gives it the right to increase its platform, despite the fact that it overlaps with the 200 nautical miles that correspond to Colombia from its continental coasts. At the center of the claim are gas and oil from the seafloor.
Colombia alleges that it has never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which recognizes continental shelves. Nicaragua responds that their claims are also recognized in customary law, based on legal customs of the States that are accepted as binding. However, the Andean country affirms that this is not true, since customary law refers to general principles and not to the technicalities of the delimitation of territories.
Days later, the Government of Colombia, through a statement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Álvaro Leyva, responded "We were programming the sending of the Colombian ambassador to Managua, but I understand that they are not liking the last position".
He assured that Colombia's position has always been to ensure human rights, "That's why we wanted to go there, so that it could get on the wagon of the new politics and geopolitics that is being designed in the American continent."
Meanwhile, the foreign minister in the conversation spoke about an end to the relationship with Nicaragua, "for now, it seems that they are suspended."

#### Guatemala

On 17 January 2023, the Guatemalan prosecutor's office ordered the capture of Iván Velásquez, Minister of Defense who had previously served as Head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, and who allegedly carried out and disclosed information on investigations against corruption carried out at various Central Americans presidents.
Petro assured that they will defend Iván Velásquez, Minister of Defense, in light of the accusations made against him by the Public Ministry of Guatemala. He warned that the actions taken could jeopardize diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Velásquez served in that country as head of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala until the beginning of 2019 when he was expelled by President Jimmy Morales, along with other investigators. During his tenure, more than 70 criminal structures were dismantled and more than 600 prosecuted. The most prominent was the one known as La Línea, whose investigation led President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti to prison.
According to President Petro, it was these investigations that are now persecuting the current Minister of National Defense. Like any person who fights against corruption, who takes a vanguard role, and Iván Velásquez did so when he was appointed to the United Nations independent judicial commission to destroy the impunity that dominated, and still dominates, the Republic of Guatemala. because now he is persecuted by that type of interest that touched, said the Colombian president.
Petro pointed out that, contrary to what the Public Ministry now affirms, Iván Velásquez caused a rupture of the powerful and corrupt interests of that country to "discover ways of greater transparency, where they can truly be the owners of power and not the criminals.

#### Brazil

During his presidency Gustavo Petro has maintained a stable relationship with President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, he has held two bilateral meetings, one of the most important of his administration being the 2023 Amazon Summit that took place on 8 and 9 August and which With the presence of the nine countries that share the Amazon, this summit presented the starting point for the creation of a new agenda for the Amazon Biome based on science, ancestral knowledge, social inclusion and the participation of all stakeholders. that will contribute to the design and implementation of innovative public protection policies for this important ecosystem.

### Europe
#### Spain

On 2 May 2023 he made his first official state visit to Spain, in the company of his wife, the first lady, Verónica Alcocer, and some members of the cabinet, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro Leyva, the Colombian ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Ávila, the Chief of Staff, Laura Sarabia, and the Ministers of Mines and Energy, Irene Vélez, of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña, and of Education, Aurora Vergara.
Among the fundamental issues, they highlighted the mitigation of climate change, energy transition, investment and migration. In addition to highlighting the historical relations with Spain, this visit took on a special character since Spain will receive the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the middle of the year.

#### Portugal

After his state visit to Spain, Petro arrived in Portugal, to meet with Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal and later with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal, this to strengthen the bilateral relationship and the ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

#### Germany

On 14 June 2023, President Petro arrived in Germany to hold a diplomatic meeting with the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz members of the German Parliament, as well as a meeting with presidents of different gas production companies, energy, infrastructure, steel, telecommunications and other areas, among the topics to be discussed were the transition to clean energy, production and use of hydrogen in Colombia, technology and innovation.

#### France

On 22 June 2023, Gustavo Petro held a bilateral with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. In this meeting, President Gustavo Petro reiterated his proposal that public debt should be exchanged for climate action. Already on the morning of this Thursday, the president presented this thesis before the Summit for a New World Financial Pact.

#### Switzerland

On Thursday, 10 August 2023, he received the President of Switzerland, Alain Berset, at the Casa de Nariño, where they signed an agreement in order to safeguard the fund, a digital copy of the documentary collection of the Commission for the Clarification of the Truth in Swiss. Agreement that had been approved by the Swiss Government on 21 July 2023.

### China

In October 2023, Petro visited China. During the visit, Colombia and China elevated their diplomatic relations to a strategic partnership and signed twelve cooperation agreements.